Ride a Dark Horse

by Laura Moore

  “Careful, Pamela, not everyone shares your approach to getting what they want. Some people actually work for it. Keep talking that way and Cassie might guess what your specialty is.” Looping an arm casually over Cassie’s shoulders, he offered his ex-wife a bland smile.

  Pamela’s eyes narrowed in anger, watching his every move.

  “But yeah,” Caleb continued cheerfully, as if unaware. “There’s a real youthfulness about Cassie. Very young and sweet. I was telling her the other day how multitalented she was, too. A rare gem. It’s getting late, so if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way.” He inclined his head with a mock politeness, dismissing her. “So long, Pamela, I hope Ross still has some money for you to spend after he’s through buying those ponies.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Caleb,” Pamela shot back with a smile as cold as ice. “He has plenty. And how are your finances, by the way? I hope you’re not feeling a little strapped for cash?” With a last, disdainful glance at Cassie, Pamela got into her car, revved the motor, and roared away.

  She fumed, sitting in the passenger seat as Caleb shifted the truck into reverse and headed toward the parking lot exit. With an abrupt curse, he hit the brakes, and with a jerk of the key killed the engine. Motionless, he stared blindly through the windshield, his fingers wrapped around the steering wheel. The truck’s cab was utterly silent for several minutes, until finally Caleb expelled a deep breath and turned his head to look at Cassie. When he spoke, his voice was tense with frustration.

  “Damn it all, Cassie. I’m really sorry you had to witness that. I try to avoid Pamela as much as possible.”

  Cassie’s head whipped around to stare at him, her hair flying across her face. Impatiently, she shoved it away. She didn’t try to conceal her fury or her hurt. “How could you talk like that about me? I assume that was your ex-wife?” At Caleb’s terse nod, she continued. “She had the nerve to imply that I was some sort of stable bunny there for your and who knows who else’s pleasure. You couldn’t even bother to tell her I was the new trainer at Five Oaks?”

  He felt like an utter bastard for having treated Cassie like a pawn in the vicious chess game he and Pamela played whenever he had the misfortune to run into her. He stared down at his knuckles, white with tension, still clenched around the steering wheel. He forced his fingers to relax.

  “Look, I’m really sorry ” he repeated. “I can imagine how hurt you must feel. Please don’t believe that I meant to insult you. I think you’re excellent for the job at Five Oaks, I really do. I was trying to get Pamela where she was vulnerable. It’s an ugly nasty by-product of our divorce. I do it even when I should know better. I’m ashamed that I let you get caught in the cross fire.” And Caleb had no doubt that even now Pamela was planning some sort of revenge for having lost this last skirmish.

  Cassie refused to let him off the hook so easily. “Well, what about those stupid cracks about my age? You made me sound as if I were two. I’m surprised you didn’t tell her I had to go back because it was my nap time.”

  Her outraged tone brought a small smile to his face. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that, too. But, Cassie, to someone as jaded as Pamela, you look hardly eighteen.” He raked a hand through his hair in an unconscious gesture of frustration. “And I encouraged her to believe that you’re barely old enough to vote, let alone buy a drink. It was petty and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

  “Why on earth should she care about how old I am?”

  “Pamela’s vain enough to be worried about getting old, worried that the competition is getting younger and younger.”

  Cassie gave a loud, inelegant snort. “Don’t try to snow job me, Wells. A woman who looks like that doesn’t have to worry about her looks or any other woman’s until she’s in the grave.”

  Caleb’s bitter smile acknowledged the truth of her comment. “Nevertheless, she was worried about you.”

  “For heaven’s sake, why?”

  He smiled. “Fishing for compliments, Slim?” Pivoting slightly to face her his expression changing like quicksilver as he looked at her. His eyes hot, possessive. Cassie felt the temperature inside the truck shoot up several degrees.

  “Come on, Cassie, hasn’t anyone told you how beautiful you are?” He ignored her embarrassed sound of denial. “You’re incredible. Like some golden angel sent down to dazzle us mortals. I’m actually surprised Pamela didn’t go directly for the jugular and try to wipe you out on the spot.”

  Cassie tried not to show how moved she was by Caleb’s compliment, telling herself that he was only trying to make her feel special after that awful episode. She didn’t see how anyone could be even in the same ballpark with Pamela in terms of looks, but his words helped soothe the hurt of the unpleasant encounter.

  “Well, I’ll forgive you for the crack about my age, then. I can understand your desire for petty revenge. I’ve often wished I could have had a few minutes of it myself.”

  Caleb looked at Cassie intently, considering. He remembered Melissa mentioning that Cassie had broken off an engagement. Had he heard the full story, or was there unfinished business between her and her fiancé? What was his name, again? Did she still love him, have feelings for him? He sincerely hoped not, because he wasn’t about to share Cassie with anyone, no matter what previous claim they had on her. For some inexplicable reason, he felt extremely possessive about Cassie.

  Cassie spoke again, interrupting his thoughts. “Caleb,” she began tentatively “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell her that I was hired as a rider and trainer for Orion and Five Oaks.”

  Oh, Christ, he’d been dreading this moment. Should he tell her the truth? That Pamela was Orion’s actual owner? Yeah, he’d made a dent in the payment schedule he’d arranged with Pamela for buying back his stallion from her avaricious hands. But Orion was still hers. And according to the agreement he’d been forced to sign, Pamela was to be kept informed of Orion’s training, with the right to veto any arrangement she opposed.

  So far Pamela had only succeeded in being a real pain in the ass, but Caleb suspected that once she got wind of Cassie’s official position at Five Oaks things were going to turn nasty. Did Cassie deserve to go into a situation like that blind? She’d accepted this job in good faith. If he misled her, didn’t that make him the same sort of opportunist as someone like Pamela?

  He couldn’t do that to Cassie.

  “She owns Orion, Cassie.” There. He’d said it. He supposed he felt marginally better.

  “What?”

  He let out a long breath. What a mess. He guessed this was it, she’d go back to Hank and Melissa’s and start packing.

  “That’s right, Slim, you heard me correctly. She owns Orion. She and a high-powered New York lawyer screwed me to the wall. The judge gave her Orion as part of the divorce settlement.”

  “Didn’t you appeal?”

  “After listening to the performance she gave in the judge’s chambers, I knew I didn’t stand a chance against her.”

  “But couldn’t you have hired another lawyer, requested another judge . . .”

  “Money Cassie,” Caleb interrupted bitterly. “She had it and I didn’t. We both knew the precariousness of my financial situation. I’d already taken out loans from the bank to start up the animal hospital. I couldn’t take the risk of defaulting. People were counting on me, my staff, my partners.”

  “But if she owns Orion, then why . . .”

  “I cut a deal with her to buy him back. Took out a second mortgage and I pay her monthly installments.”

  “Oh my God,” Cassie said, her voice dazed, still sorting out all the ramifications. “And what will she do when she finds out I’m riding her horse?”

  “Oh, the shit’ll hit the fan big time,” Caleb predicted with absolute certainty. “Look, I know you’re going to want to reconsider our offer. I’ll understand completely if you wash your hands of this mess. I know I’d be tempted. Hank didn’t feel right talking about it with you because it’s my mess, my respons
ibility. But I promise you I’ll do everything I can to prevent Pamela from screwing up the works even more. With any luck, she won’t get wind of your riding Orion anytime soon. It’s not as if she’d figure it out on her own.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Pamela’s not like you, Cassie. It wouldn’t occur to her a woman could be hired for a job as a trainer. Hell, she doesn’t even like horses.” Certainly not to ride. Pamela had only been interested in riding one thing, but it hadn’t been a horse. Caleb, however, wasn’t about to share that with Cassie.

  “Well, then, why in the world did you marry her?” Cassie asked in exasperation, the idiocy of her question dawning on her the second the words were out. She looked down at her fingers twisted together in her lap and wished with all her might that she could grab the words she’d uttered out of the air and swallow them.

  Caleb stared at Cassie in astonishment. It was too bad she wouldn’t be sticking around. She was truly a breath of fresh air. A grin spread across his face and his eyes lit with unholy amusement. His fingers reached forward, turning the key once again. “Bookkeeping, Slim. Pamela was a truly excellent bookkeeper.”

  10

  T he silver Lamborghini responded with a leap of speed as Pamela pressed down hard on the accelerator. The car was all engine, rushing down the road with a satisfying roar. Her hands gripped the steering wheel, relishing the powerful vibrations beneath her palms. Her husband, Stuart Ross, had purchased the car for her last month after she’d awakened him in bed in his favorite way. She knew just the right way to ask for things with Stuart, Pamela thought with a satisfied smile.

  Like the sudden twists in the road, Pamela’s thoughts turned to Caleb. The sports car lurched forward, trees along the side of the road diminishing to the size of matchsticks.

  Anger blurred her vision.

  She’d never forgive him for the way he’d spurned her. She still didn’t believe Caleb actually took such an old-fashioned view of marriage, of fidelity, seriously.

  So what if she’d been unfaithful to him? Who wasn’t in this day and age? Anyway, Pamela had had every intention of welcoming Caleb back into her bed just as soon as she married and became Mrs. Stuart Ross III. It had simply been a matter of timing.

  She’d never planned to lose such a virile and exciting a lover as Caleb. And the fillip of excitement, having her ex-husband cuckold her brand new one, had only added to her determination to lure Caleb back.

  But Caleb had refused. The arrogant son of a bitch even had the unspeakable gall to laugh in her face. She’d been so sure he’d fall right in line at the prospect of tasting her charms again. That he’d still be hers to tempt and to lure.

  It would have sweetened their little arrangement so. If he’d just done as she’d wanted, if he’d been extra, extra nice to her, perhaps she’d have relented, letting him buy Orion back a little faster.

  But, no, he’d laughed, not even deigning to reply. Then he’d written that first of many checks and walked out the door as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As if it didn’t matter that she held the winning hand. She could still remember how she’d stood there, the heat of her fury and humiliation staining her face an unbecoming red.

  Since his rejection that humiliating afternoon, Caleb had become like an itch she couldn’t scratch. Taunting memories of how it had been between them, of the feel of his hard body moving over her, inside her, made her crave him obsessively. Yet he remained just out of her reach. She wanted him back.

  She’d get him, too. It was just a matter of timing, like everything. The blond cutie who’d been with him in the parking lot didn’t stand a chance.

  And after Pamela had sated herself with Caleb’s delightfully hard body, she would make him pay all over again.

  She’d decided to stay. It hadn’t been a difficult choice to make. She already loved it here. Hank was great to work with, she had some good, young horses to train, and there was the chance to ride Orion for however long it lasted. Cassie had been around horses for too many years not to recognize a truly special one when she saw it. No way was she going to let a chance to ride Orion slip between her fingers.

  And then there was Caleb. It was time to be honest. The intensity of her attraction for Caleb compelled her to offer what help she could. But her decision was based on more than physical attraction alone. She kept picturing the expression on Caleb’s face as he recounted how Pamela had come to own Orion. A horse that meant so much to him.

  It was humbling to contemplate how much Caleb had already sacrificed on behalf of his stallion. Not just money loads of money, but his pride, too.

  She couldn’t forget, either, that Caleb had been decent with her. He hadn’t tried to trick her or sweet talk her into staying on at Five Oaks. In fact, she suspected that he was more than half-convinced she’d run straight to the Sawyers and start packing up her bags. But Cassie wasn’t a quitter and she’d always liked rooting for the underdog.

  Cassie’d known she’d done the right thing when she approached him the following morning and said simply without preamble, “I’ll stay.”

  He’d looked at her silently, his expression carefully guarded. Finally, he’d given her a short nod. “Thanks.”

  The word had come out a kind of rusty croak, surprising them both. “Thanks,” he’d repeated, his happy grin making him look years younger.

  And now almost a week later it was difficult to keep from jumping up and down with excitement. Alex Thompson, and the twins were due to arrive any minute. She’d be able to show her family their new home. She’d given Alex directions to Five Oaks over the phone the night before, thinking that afterwards they could all go together to the house at Hay Fever Farm. Cassie was dying to see the expression on Sophie and Jamie’s faces when they first set eyes on it.

  While waiting for the twins and Alex, she’d spent the last hour tending to Hot Lips. She’d brushed her and then bandaged her injured leg. Caleb had begun the laser therapy on it a few days earlier and seemed optimistic that the tendon would heal nicely. But besides helping her with Hot Lips, Caleb had maintained his distance from Cassie, checking on her progress with Orion, then quickly vanishing into the dark confines of one of the barns, Hank’s office, or back to the animal hospital. And although she’d dutifully announced her schedule of morning runs, all so far had been solitary. Much to her annoyance, Cassie frequently caught herself scanning the road ahead for a glimpse of a tall, athletic figure, dark against the dawn-lit sky.

  She told herself this polite distance between her and Caleb was for the best, exactly the thing she had counseled herself to do. She guessed she was simply surprised it was Caleb who had taken the initiative.

  It wasn’t as if she missed Caleb’s teasing, his lazy charm, or his intoxicating kisses at all.

  What did it matter what his reasons were? If one of her bosses preferred to avoid any contact with her, well, that was his business. She had plenty of her own work to do and was certainly old enough to go for a run without male protection. Never mind that on the morning Caleb had accompanied her, her feet had seemed light as air and the miles had flown past, hardly registering.

  Cassie made her way to the box stalls where the twins’ ponies, Pip and Topper, stood quietly munching their hay. Hank had been thoughtful enough to give them stalls next to each other, so that when the children groomed their ponies, she or Thompson could easily supervise them.

  She led Topper out first, a twenty-year-old dapple grey and hitched him up to the cross tie. Fondly she scratched the pony behind the ears. She had so many memories associated with this old pony. The most recent one, though, caused Cassie to duck her head into Topper’s warm neck, her cheeks aflame. Although two days had passed, Cassie’s chagrin was uncomfortably fresh in her mind.

  She’d been riding Topper bareback, trotting the pony over some low crossbars she’d arranged in the center of the ring. No big deal, just enough height to make sure the old guy didn’t get rusty from lack of jumping. It was for fun, a la
rk. She was enjoying the sensation of riding bareback, something she did pretty infrequently riding highly strung jumpers. Caleb and Hank had walked into the ring, wanting to move some of the larger fences so that later on Hank could grade the ring with the tractor.

  It was still unbelievable to her that it happened. Perhaps she’d been flustered or distracted by Caleb’s presence, idly watching her exercise the large grey pony but one minute her legs were wrapped firmly around Topper’s barrel-like belly, and the next she found herself butt deep in a large, muddy puddle. Hank and Caleb’s roars of laughter could have filled Madison Square Garden. Even Topper had looked astonished, and then mightily pleased with himself at having unseated her so effortlessly. Cassie had stood, too mortified to bother wiping the wet muck coating her backside, and had caught hold of the reins. With as much dignity as she could manage, Cassie had scrambled back on, feeling the cold mud spread against her skin as she resettled herself on the pony’s back.

  She supposed she should feel lucky that Caleb and Hank were so convulsed with laughter that they couldn’t catch their breath enough to make any obnoxious comments, but later the story had spread like wildfire around the barns. Even Melissa had ribbed her at being humbled by an old, retired show pony.

  Cassie finished grooming the two ponies and gave them each fresh hay to munch on. Satisfied they were spotless for Jamie and Sophie, she walked slowly back toward the house, thinking of a cup of coffee and the chance to change her clothes before Alex, Thompson, and the twins arrived.

  She’d resisted the temptation of moving into Caleb’s parents’ house, telling herself that she wanted the experience to be shared by her entire family. It was also an excellent precaution against succumbing to Caleb’s seductive charms. Not that he’d been trying any seducing lately. But better safe than sorry. She wasn’t sure she’d even try to resist him if they were alone and he chose to renew his interest in her.